Swami Brahmananda, the ‘Spiritual Son’ of Sri Ramakrishna was the first President of the Ramakrishna Order.
Swami Shivananda, the second President of the Ramakrishna Order, was popularly known as ‘Mahapurush Maharaj.
‘I do not covet earthly kingdom, or heaven, or even salvation. The only thing I desire is the removal of the miseries of the afflicted!’ If these words of Prahlada, the great devotee, could be found truly reflected in anyone’s life, it was in the life of Swami Akhandananda, the third President of the Ramakrishna Order.
Sri Ramakrishna one day challenged a young man to wrestle with him. The tall and hefty youth put him down in no time.
The name ‘Swami Premananda’ given to Baburam by Swami Vivekananda at the time of accepting the monastic orders, was a true reflection of his basic trait universal love.
While in ecstacy Sri Ramakrishna’s behaviour would often be mysterious. One day in such a mood, he sat on the lap of a young man, Sharat Chandra by name, and remarked, ‘I was testing how much weight he could bear.’
It is said that Swami Vivekananda at the time of Sannyasa wanted to take the name ‘Ramakrishnananda’ for himself, but gave it up in favour of Shashibhushan, who, he thought, deserved it best.
A few people, there are, who appear to life in this world, but do not really belong here. Swami Turiyananda was one of them.
Author of several exquisite Sanskrit hymns on Sri Ramakrishna and Sri Sarada Devi – the most popular one being ‘prakritim paramam’- Swami Abhedananda was a rare combination of several talents like intellectual acumen, devotional fervor and yogic introspection.
Swami Vivekananda once declared that Latu (the pre-monastic name of Swami Adbhutananda) was the greatest miracle of Sri Ramakrishna.
Nityaniranjan Ghosh, more commonly known as Niranjan, was probably born in the village Rajarhat-Vishnupur (Bengal), but lived in Calcutta with his uncle.
The depression brought about by the loss of a gold watch led the young Sarada Prasanna to Dakshineswar seeking peace. Master Mahashaya, the celebrated author of the Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna who was his teacher, led him to his future guru.
The darkness of a crisis in life often acts like the twilight before dawn leading to the effulgence of the sun. When Gopal Chandra Ghosh of Sinthi (Calcutta) lost his wife and was heartbroken, that very grief led him to Sri Ramakrishna, seeking relief.
At the behest of Swami Vivekananda, but most reluctantly, Swami Subodhananda rose to speak before a gathering of monks and novices of the Math. And lo! There was an earth-quake! (It was the earthquake of 1897). It was really an ‘earth-shaking’ speech!
Though counted among the disciples of Sri Ramakrishna and guided by him, Swami Yogananda was the first initiated disciple of Sri Sarada Devi, popularly known as the ‘Holy Mother.’